Mark Camilleri, since 2013 the executive chairperson of the National Book Council, certainly has a way with words.
His outspokenness on social media is legendary, not least for being one of the few, if not only, critics of the same Labour government he has actively supported in 2013 and 2017. He has been active inside the party through the Senglea branch as recently as the last Labour election. But, as one of the ‘critical-Left’ members of the Maltese political landscape, Camilleri has been unique in that, as a State-paid functionary hand-picked by former education minister Evarist Bartolo to head the National Book Council, he has been keen to criticise his own party-in-government’s failings on good governance and the Daphne Caruana Galizia assassination.
Three weeks ago, I got a call from the National Book Council. They informed me that the National Book Prize would be awarded on December 18 and the book I co-wrote with Carlo Bonini and John Sweeney,
Murder on the Malta Express: Who Killed Daphne Caruana Galizia (Midsea Books), would be awarded the prize.
I confess I was pleased. This is the first book with my name on it and it will surprise few people to learn that my bruised ego enjoys a cuddle from time to time. I was also a little surprised. The executive chairman of the National Book Council and I do not run a mutual admiration society and, in any case, all government agencies or entities have stayed as far away from Daphne’s story as they could manage.